


Country Roads

by YourGirlJames



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bull Riding, Country & Western, F/F, Rodeo Competitions, Texas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:41:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23311795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourGirlJames/pseuds/YourGirlJames
Summary: Ali thought it was the end of the world, but a young hot shot bull rider makes her realize that maybe moving to the small ranch town in Southern Texas wouldn't be so bad after all.
Relationships: Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger
Comments: 41
Kudos: 154





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this idea came to me while I was watching The Longest Ride and I thought, what better way to stay busy during quarantine than to write... I post as i write so I'll try my best to post as often as possible but I'm honestly not even sure where this is going.

Ali

You’ve probably heard the saying “throw a spanner in the works”. If not, let us take a moment to explain. The Cambridge dictionary explains the saying quite technically as meaning “ to do something that prevents a plan or activity from succeeding”. To put that in more personal terms, this phrase essentially means you fuck up someone’s plans. Now, if a person throws a spanner in the works, it is usually fixable. Usually. However, when life decides to throw one in there it usually isn’t. Life just sometimes decides that someone is having it to easy, or that they’re too happy. So, life decides to fuck it up.

This happened to Ali Krieger during the summer before her junior year of high school. Everything was going great. She had gotten straight A’s the previous year, even throwing in the odd A+, and she had finally earned a spot on the starting 11 for the Varsity soccer team. Life was good. She was happy. 

Then life threw in the unfortunate spanner. This particular spanner took the form of a pretty secretary. 

Now, at this point you may be wondering how a secretary could possibly be a problem. Well by herself, she wasn’t a problem. However, being spread across a man’s desk naked when said man’s wife walks into his office, makes her a bit of a problem. This was the case with Ken Krieger’s new secretary. And unfortunately, or fortunately depending on if you’re a glass half full or glass half empty kind of person, Ken’s wife Deb walked in on that exact scene. 

So, she, understandably, immediately filed for divorce and kicked the man out. Simple. However, being high school sweethearts who never moved away from their home city, the years of seemingly happy relationship had led to there being far too many memories in their home city of Washington DC. So, she made the decision to move. And of course, Ali and her older brother Kyle decided to move with her. They were so disgusted with their father that they couldn’t even look him in the eye, never mind live with the man. 

So here they were, on the Friday before the start of the new school year, pulling into the driveway of their new house in the small town of Crystal Falls, Texas.

Yep, that secretary was quite the spanner. 

Deb had decided that she wanted a change of scenery and a small ranch town in southern Texas was, arguably, about as different from Washington DC as one could possibly get. 

Their new house was a nice one. Located about half a mile away from the center of the small town itself, in a relatively small gathering of houses not located on an actual ranch. And there were plenty of those. The house was beautiful, in Ali’s opinion. Medium sized, with brownish-grey slats and a dark grey roof, it had a small porch at the front with a porch swing and Ali could see a larger porch on the one side. On the other side there was a double garage connected to the curved driveway on which their car was currently parked. Ali took it all in when she got out of the car, holding her pillow to her chest while taking her earphones out. 

“The air is so fresh here,” she heard Kyle say to her mother as he stepped out of the second vehicle, a white Ford pickup truck that the 2 of them shared. “Like, it literally smells fresh.”

He was right. Although fairly dusty, for the streets were mostly dirt in the town, the air did smell significantly fresher than the air in DC. 

Just as Ali was opening the back seat of her mother’s car to retrieve her suitcase, she heard an odd rumble that she couldn’t identify. Looking up, she made eye contact with Kyle, who looked just as confused as she felt. They looked towards the end of the street, expecting to see a vehicle of some form, and they were both incredibly surprised by what they saw. There, at the end of the street closest to where a collection of ranches began, was a group of four people riding down the street on galloping horses, cheering as they charged down the street, kicking up a dust cloud in their wake.

“You’ve got to be joking,” Kyle laughed.

Ali couldn’t help but agree with his surprised statement as she laughed along. 

As the riders ran towards their house, Ali got a closer look, and she smiled and continued laughing when she saw they looked like a group of cowboys straight out of some western. Having stayed in a city her entire life, she didn't realize that people still rode horses outside of sporting events. But these people made it look like the most natural thing in the world. They all wore jeans and boots, 3 of them wearing flannel shirts of varying style, and the last one wearing a plain black short sleeved button up. Hell, two of them were even wearing cowboy hats, a third wearing a backwards baseball cap. 

They rode past, and Ali could hear them laughing and she couldn’t help but leach off of their obvious joy. She just felt so much lighter hearing it. Hardly anybody laughed and cheered so openly back home, especially for no apparent reason. As they rode by, Ali made eye contact with one of the flannel and cowboy hat clad riders. This one’s flannel shirt was purple and black, and without sleeves, allowing Ali to catch a glimpse of a tattoo on their upper arm as the fleeting eye contact was broken and the riders continued their journey. 

The eye contact may have only lasted a moment, but Ali thought of nothing much else besides the smiling face of the unknown rider for the rest of the day while she unpacked her new room. Maybe moving here wasn’t so bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet our hot shot bull rider.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this came to me faster than I thought. Nothing encourages writing quite like your country being on lock down.

Ashlyn

Ashlyn woke up that morning at 5:30 as she always did. When you live on a cattle ranch, rising with the sun was a requirement. During school term this was so that she could do some work around the ranch before she had to go to class. During summer, this was so that she could get most of her work in the fields done before the sun became too harsh. She didn’t mind though. When you grow up waking that early, it becomes the norm. Now, if Ash slept past 7, she felt as if the morning was wasted. 

She walked down to the kitchen of the ranch house to get a cup of coffee; breakfast would be served at 8 as usual. Her cousin Justin was already there, nursing his own cup, ready to hand over hers. 

The ranch had been in her family for 7 generations, the current owners being their Grandmother. Ashlyn was not technically part of the main branch of the family, as Justin’s father was the older brother so he would inherit the ranch when her grandmother passed. But she had lived at the ranch since she was 5. Her mother died giving birth to her and her father, in his grief, had taken to whiskey to damped some of his pain. One day, Ashlyn and her older brother Chris woke up to find their father gone. To this day, they had no idea where he was, having never heard from him again. Chris, then aged 8, had walked to the house next door, and the woman there had phoned their grandmother, who was there within 15 minutes. They had lived with her ever since. 

Ashlyn was happy now. Ranch life suited her. She loved the physical aspect of all the hard work she had to do, her grandparents quickly realising that she much preferred to work out on the fields than in the house with the women. So while her grandmother and aunt spent their days doing the more domestic chores, like cooking the meals and dealing with the finances of the house hold, Ashlyn spent her days outside with her grandfather, uncle, cousin and brother, until Chris had gone to college, attending to the cattle, keeping the ranch in order, looking after the few horses they had and any other jobs required of her. 

As much as Ash enjoyed working the ranch, her true passion lay in bull riding. She was an adrenaline junkie by nature, and nothing gave you as much of a rush as trying to stay seated on a raging beast hell bent on getting you off. Sure, it was dangerous but hey, there wasn’t a hell of a lot else to do in the small town of Crystal Falls. Most of the young folk in the town competed in some or other rodeo event. Rodeos were a common occurrence in the town. People came from all over Texas to compete. Hell, some of the rodeos had even been televised. It was Ashlyn’s dream to make it the Vegas for the national bull riding championship. Now that she was 18, she was finally old enough to compete a that level. She had been riding bulls since she was 16, the youngest you were allowed to be to compete at the local rodeos. Before then, she’d rode broncs. She was obsessed.

That’s the main reason why Ashlyn was particularly cheery that day. For later that day was the last rodeo before school started. It was always a massive event, with all the local teens coming out and competing or supporting, to get one last party in before getting back to the grind of high school.  
“We gotta go fix the fence by the back field by the creek ‘fore we can head off to town,” Justin said before draining his coffee. “Pa said we jus need to do that and muck out the stables then we can go.”

Uncle Jed knew that neither teens would get much done on rodeo days, their excitement to hectic. Their rodeo days always looked the same. They’d get up, go out to do a few jobs that Jed had left them, before coming home, eating, getting ready then leaving as soon as possible to go meet their friends, Tobin and Kelley. They usually rode their horses over to the Heath ranch where the 2 girls stayed, Kelley and her family lived in a rented house on the ranch and Kelley worked there as an extra ranch hand. The Heath’s bred horses and Kelley, whose event ofchoice was Bronc riding, worked with them mainly to break in the horses and help train them. 

Now, visitors to the town often wondered why locals still rode horses as a main form of transport, even when they had cars. Well, those that did simply did it because it was fun, and the 4 teens weren’t exceptions. They drove cars to school and to the city of course, but to the rodeo grounds and to each other’s ranches? Horses were the way.

Later that day, once their jobs were finished and their lunch eaten, Ashlyn saddled up her large black stallion, Pride. She loved him. Her grandfather had gifted him to her for her 16th birthday, a month before he passed away. Pride was a large, strong, temperamental horse. Ashlyn had had to work hard to get him to trust her, but once that bond was formed, they were as close as could be. 

“Come on JJ!” Ashlyn called to her cousin as she swung up into her saddle, taking a moment to straighten her black cowboy hat. “Tobs and Kelley are waitin on us!”

A moment later, Justin, or JJ as his friends and family called him, was in the saddle of his grey percheron, Tank, took a second to straighten his black button up shirt and adjust his own hat, his a brown cowboy hat similar to Ashlyn’s and was riding towards the gates of the ranch after his cousin. They kicked their horses into a canter pausing only at the gates of their friends’ farm, where they waited for a few minutes while Ashlyn called them out to join them. 10 minutes later Tobin and Kelley joined them, and they sped off down the dirt road towards the town, riding through the suburban part on their way to the rodeo grounds located on the other side of town, cheering and shouting at each other as they went. In the small town, there wasn’t much, so they took joy from the simple things.

As they made their way through the main street of the suburb, Ashlyn turned slightly to jeer her cousin as they passed his girlfriend, Kealia’s house, but the words froze on her lips when she made eye contact with the most beautiful girl she’d ever seen, who was standing in the drive of the house next door to Kealia’s, smiling and laughing at the group's antics. She managed to throw a smile in the girl’s direction as they raced past, and she was unable to get the girl and her beautiful smile out of her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed that, the story will be a mix of their perspectives, but I won't be writing every scene from both perspectives. Only the important ones.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Ali's potential new best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone is staying healthy! Here's the next chapter, hope you guys enjoy it.

Ali

Ali stepped back to admire her room. She had spent the last hour or so starting the process of organising and decorating her room just the way she wanted it. She was far from finished though. She had merely finished placing her furniture where she wanted it. All her posters were in a pile on her desk, which had been placed under the windows. 

Kyle and Ali’s rooms were the 2 bedrooms on the second floor, with their mother taking the master bedroom on the ground floor. Ali had specifically chosen that room for its placement. Her windows were located directly above their front door, overlooking their front yard and the street. But she didn’t just choose it for the view. The windows opened wide, granting access to the slanted roof above the front porch, and the romantic in her imagined herself spending evenings lying out on the roof gazing at the night sky.

Her full sized bed was in the corner opposite her windows, furthest from the room’s door. The nightstand next to the bed was already full of framed photographs of Ali and various people, including Kyle, her mother and friends from back home. The doors to her walk in closet stood open a pile of boxes containing all her clothes and shoes stood in front of it. A tall bookshelf stood next to her desk, with boxes of books in front of it. 

As Ali took a step towards the boxes of clothing, she heard their doorbell ring. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she left the room to go see who was at their door, after all, they had only moved in 2 hours before. She walked down the stairs towards the front door, to find her mother opening it to a beautiful blonde girl who appeared to be around Ali’s age, give or take a year, holding a potted flower.

“Hi there,” the blonde greeted with a cheerful smile. “I live next door and I saw y’all moving in earlier and I thought I’d come over to welcome you to town.”

“How sweet of you,” Deb answered with a smile of her own, taking the flower the girl gave to her. “I’m Deb, Deb Krieger. Let me just call my kids to come say hi, they’re around your age I’d think. Kyle! Ale-“ 

Deb turned around while she called, spotting Ali standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh, you’re down already Alex. Come meet our new neighbour while I go out this beautiful flower in the kitchen. Please come in dear.”

“Hi,” Ali greeted the girl, moving towards her with her hand outstretched, excited about making a new friend in this strange new town. “I’m Ali, it’s really sweet of you to come introduce yourself.”

“I’m Kealia,” the girl replied, shaking Ali’s hand. “And it’s really no bother at all. I can’t imagine moving to a new town and not knowing anybody, so I thought I should come by and see if y’all were in need of a friend.”

“Well I don’t know about Alex, but I never turn down the offer of a new friend,” Kyle joked, having just gotten down from his own room. “I’m Kyle, Alex’s older brother. I’m going into my senior year at Crystal Falls High.”

“Kealia,” she repeated, reaching out to shake Kyle’s offered hand. “I also go there. To be honest pretty much everyone does. I’m going into my junior year though, but my boyfriend and most of his friends will be seniors this year, so I’d be happy to introduce you sometime.”

“Oh, that’s perfect!” Ali exclaimed. “I’m a junior as well. Maybe we’ll have a few classes together.”

“Yeah maybe, we should compare schedules on Monday after homeroom,” Kealia replied, just as happily as Ali. “Here, let’s swop numbers so we can plan where to meet up if we don’t have the same homeroom, can’t have you wondering around all lost.”

Just as they were swopping back their phones after exchanging numbers, Deb came out of the kitchen.

“Kealia, can I offer you some sweet tea?” Deb asked their guest. 

“Thank you so much Ms Krieger,” Kealia thanked Deb. “But unfortunately, I need to be on my way actually. I have to head out to the rodeo soon, most of the town is heading that way to compete and support, and my boyfriend and his friends are competing.”

Ali looked at Kealia with interest hearing this. She was intrigued by the idea of a rodeo, only having seen them in movies.

“Would either of you like to join?” Kealia invited, having noticed Ali’s facial expression. “Like I said, most of the town heads out to them, so it would be the perfect opportunity to meet some people.”

“I’d love to,” Ali confirmed enthusiastically, Kyle replying the same.

“Perfect!” Kealia smiled. “I’m just going to go get changed quick, come over to my place in 15 minutes and we can go.”

And with that and one last bright smile and wave, Kealia left, heading to her house, while Ali and Kyle rushed upstairs.

‘What do you even wear to a rodeo?’ Ali wondered, digging through her boxes looking for something appropriate to wear. In the end, she decided on a flowery summer dress, paired with a pair of ankle boots. She kept her make up light, just some mascara, which she never leaves the house without. She walked out of her room to find Kyle had decided on slim fitting khaki pants tucked into a pair of brown combat boots, paired with a short sleeved denim button up. His visible tattoos making Ali think again of the blonde that had rode past earlier. 

They walked over to Kealia’s house and Ali was relieved to see that she was wearing an outfit similar to her own, only with cowboy boots, and a woven straw cowgirl hat on her head.

“I think y’all are gonna love it at the rodeo,” Kealia reassured them as they walked to her car, her bright smile present. “It’s really a fun time, and there’s a party in the dance hall afterwards. It’s honestly the best way to end off the summer.”

As they climber into the small Chevy pickup truck, Ali in the passenger seat with Kyle happily offering to sit in the bed of the truck, Ali’s mind once again wondered to the striking blonde rider from earlier. She wondered if she’d be at the rodeo. Ali hoped she would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that! Remember to stay at home and stay healthy everyone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rodeo- Part 1

Ashlyn

Rodeo days were her favorite days. She loved everything about them, from the rush of competing to the food and the atmosphere, what wasn’t to love? Her little group arrived at the rodeo grounds with a few hours to spare before it actually started as competitors had to arrive early to register. All of them except Tobin rode their horses to the fenced off field reserved for the horses used for transport, Tobin taking hers to the stable used for horses that were there to compete. Tobin was a barrel racer, so her and her chestnut quarter horse, Timber were a team.

The group separated to go register for their events, agreeing to meet back near the commentator’s box. Ashlyn and JJ made their way to the bull riding table, Kelley to the bronc riding table and Tobin to the barrel racing. As they got closer to the table and the group already lining up in front of it, Ash let out a groan that had JJ sighing in when they saw who was at the back of the line. 

Brent.

Brent and Ashlyn had history. They were rivals ever since their days riding broncs. They were arguably two of the best bull riders in town, if not the state, except Ash was always slightly better. And Brent never failed to be a complete dick about it. To be honest, Brent never failed to be a dick to Ashlyn whenever he got the chance, making snide comments about everything from her family to her sexuality.

Now Crystal Falls in general was a pretty accepting community as far as Southern Towns went, and Ashlyn had never felt the need to hide the fact that she was gay, but there always had to be at least that one close minded asshole, and in this town, said asshole was Brent. 

“Hey Justin,” Brent greeted with an arrogant smirk. “Ashlyn.”

“Hi Brent,” JJ replied, mildly annoyed but polite as always. Come season, JJ and Brent played on the High School football team together, so he played nice to try avoiding tension despite hating the other boy for how he treated his cousin.

“Brent.” Ashlyn replied through gritted teeth.

“You still riding Ashlyn?” he questioned unnecessarily, feigning surprise. It was a well known fact in town that Ashlyn was not planning to quit until she was injured badly enough to be forced to stop. “You’d think you’d have realized by now that this is a man’s game, no place for a lady.”

“Yep still ridin’” Ashlyn replied with a smirk, knowing she had the trump card here. “I think that state champion title of mine shows that this lady is more than comfy in this men’s game wouldn’t you agree JJ?”

Ashlyn had come first in the previous year’s State Championship despite being one of the youngest competitors, not to mention being the only girl.

“Right you are Ash,” JJ grinned at his cousin, internally laughing at Brent’s darkening face.

To rub more salt in that wound, Brent was thrown from his first bull after only 1.2 seconds, so he hadn’t even make it out of the heats.

“Whatever Harris. Watch your back out there, those bulls are dangerous you know,” Brent grunted, trying to get a last shot before storming off.

“When are you gonna learn to ignore him?” JJ asked ,exasperated as they filled in their information on the sign-up sheets.

“When he stops acting like a dick,” Ash replied simply, filling in her own form.

..........

Ali

Ali knew almost immediately that she was going to enjoy herself at the rodeo. The three teens arrived about an hour and a half after the event began. Kealia explained that the first few 2 hours or so of any rodeo was directed more towards families, or rather directed towards kids. With a show from the rodeo clowns and the ever popular kid’s event, Mutton Busting, where small kids tried to ride a running sheep for as long as possible. The trio arrived as the event was winding down, just in time to watch the finals, while late enough to miss the 20 kids that went before. 

“All the kids want to take part, but only a handful are actually worth watching,” Kealia stated and they found some excellent seats right by the fence of the rodeo ring. “So, it’s best to only get here in time to see the finals, unless you want to spend an hour watching kids get chucked off a sheep and end up sitting in the dirt crying.”

Ali and Kyle both chuckled, relieved that they wouldn’t have to sit through that.

The winning kid, a young girl named Mal, was given a big blue ribbon. She ran off towards her mother at the gate, a huge smile on her face, as three workers came into the ring, rolling 3 barrels with them.

“Next we have the first senior event. Get ready to see some barrel racing folks, first rider, Alex Morgan riding Blue, will go on in 5 minutes.” The announcer called through the speakers.

As promised, 5 minutes later, a stunning brunette rode out into the ring on a grey horse, one hand holding her reins, the other waving a hat as she waved it to the crowd while she rode a lap of the ring before bringing her horse to rest in a marked rectangle. 

“Okay so barrel racing is pretty simple,” Kealia began to explain as a buzzer sounded and Alex Morgan urged her horse into a sprint towards the furthest barrel. “The barrels are arranged in a triangle and basically, the rider has to circle each barrel as quickly as possible.”

Ali didn’t know anything about this sport, but even she could tell that Alex Morgan was good, finishing her first ride in just 17.87 seconds. 

“Because so many riders take part in the events, they all work on a pool system,” Kealia explained further as the second rider comes on. “They divide the participants into 2 groups, usually with about 6 to 8 in each but sometimes more depending on the event. Then each participant rides 3 times, and they take each rider’s best times to rank them. Then the top 2 from each group ride again in the finals.”

The second rider finished with a respectable 19.52 seconds, and then another rider came on riding reddish horse, wearing a backwards baseball cap.

“And here we have the current champion, Tobin Heath, riding Timber.”

“That’s Tobin, one of my boyfriend, JJ’s friends,” Kealia smiled, waving to Tobin as she rode past, getting a wink and a smile in return. “Her and Alex are always competing for the top spot but they’re pretty evenly matched.”

Ali could tell that this Tobin girl was good, as she raced around the barrels. She wasn’t quite as fast as Alex had been, but what she lacked in speed she made up for in technique, getting closer to the barrels, sharper turns making up for the lack of speed on the straights.

“Heath is probably one of the most technical riders of her generation and it shows here.”

Ali was proud of herself when she heard the commentator making the same observation that she had. On the second turn, Tobin even had to lift her leg out of the way to avoid it brushing the barrel.

16.9 seconds.

After watching all the riders complete their 3 round stage rides, the top 2 from each group were Alex Morgan and Allie Long from group A, and Tobin Heath and Amy Rodriquez from group B.

The final was close. Very close. Well, for first and second.

“Everybody knows if they go into the finals against Alex and Tobin that they’re competing for third,” Kealia laughed when the final times were announced.

First Place: Alex Morgan. 15.56 seconds  
Second Place: Tobin Heath. 16.01 seconds  
Third Place: Amy Rodriquez. 18.2 seconds  
Fourth Place: Allie Long. 19.5 seconds

“And it looks like the champ has been dethroned folks! Alex Morgan wins the day by point 54 of a second, that sure was a close one!”

Tobin didn’t look too disappointed, she hugged Alex good naturedly, laughing when Alex hugged her back and said something to her. Tobin and Alex walked off together, leading their horses back to the stables.

“The next event, saddled bronc riding will begin in 15 minutes folks, that’s 15 minutes, first rider, Kelley O’Hara who has drawn Rocky as her first ride.”

“Bet you she’ll bail on her first ride,” a voice sounded behind them. Ali turned, to see Tobin and Alex seated behind them, with Tobin leaning slightly forward as she addressed Kealia. Ali couldn’t help but notice that Tobin had her arm draped around Alex’s shoulders.

“Nah Tobs you know I never bet against Kelley, I’m smarter than that,” Kealia laughed before standing and turning around, pulling Tobin into a short hug, and smiling at Alex.  
“These are my new neighbors,” she added, gesturing to Ali and Kyle. “Ali, Kyle, this is Tobin and Alex. Tobin is going to be a senior this year Kyle, maybe y’all will have some classes together. Alex is a sophomore but she's pretty smart so she's in a few of the junior classes with us Ali.”

The group of 5 fell into easy conversation, mostly focusing on Ali and Kyle as they all got to know the new additions.

“And if you look over to the chute folks, you’ll see Kelley O’Hara sitting on top of Rocky as she prepares for her first ride.”

“Bronc riding is a bit more difficult to explain,” Kealia began to explain. “It’s simple enough in concept but it’s difficult to explain the points system, I don’t even fully understand it to be honest. But the basics is that a rider has to stay seated on a bucking horse for 8 seconds, without touching the horse with their free hand.”   
Kyle turned at that, asking his first question. “What do you mean their free hand?”

Kealia didn’t have time to answer before a buzzer sounded and the chute gate opened, the horse, Rocky, shooting out and immediately beginning to buck wildly. Her answer wasn’t necessary though as they saw that the rider, Kelley, was only holding on with one hand, the other held high in the air.

Kelley lasted the full 8 seconds, a second buzzer sounding, and she jumped off the bucking animal, landing safely. Rocky immediately stopped bucking, feeling that the rider was off, and ran off, pursued by 2 cowboys holding lassos. 

The heat system worked the same for bronc riding as for the barrel racing, except instead of times, they were ranked using their scores out of 100.   
Kelley O’Hara won overall, with an impressive score of 89 on her final ride.

“Now folks we’ll be taking a short break before the final event. The bull riding will begin in 30 minutes. We only have 8 competitors today folks, so there will only be 4 to a group. First rider will be Justin Watt, who drew Sweet Thing as his first ride of the evening.”

"That's JJ," Kealia smiled, despite feeling slightly anxious as she always did before he rode. 

Bull riding was a dangerous sport after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope nothing of what I described was too incorrect, I don't actually know a lot about rodeos as you can probably tell. But I hoped you enjoyed it anyways. The first meet will happen in the next chapter I promise!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rodeo- Part 2

Ashlyn

Ash watched her cousin settle onto his bull from her seat on the fence next to the chute. He looked nervous, but excited. This was a pretty common combination of emotions for bull riders to be feeling when they’re seated on top of a 1500 plus pound beast that could quite easily crush you. But, like Uncle Jed always said, when it comes to bull riding “If you aint a bit scared then what’s the point?”

Justin was bigger than your typical bull rider. Its very seldom that a bull rider is bigger than 6ft, but JJ got by. He took up bull riding as a hobby, not with the hope to go pro like his cousin and a few other teens in town. His passion lay with football. He planned to go pro in that sport after college, God willing.

He took a deep breath and Ashlyn leaned over and patted his shoulder. 

“You got this JJ,” she laughed encouragingly. “Just don’t get chucked, Kea is watching, and you don’t wanna make a fool of yourself in front of the pretty girl now do ya?”

“Shut up Ash,” he grumbled just before the buzzer sounded and the chute gate opened, Sweet Thing immediately charging out and starting to spin and buck wildly.

JJ lasted 6.3 seconds before Sweet Thing gave a particularly violent spin, causing JJ to slip and jump off, rolling and immediately jumping back up and making his way to the fence, an eye on the still-angry bull.

“Not bad,” Ash chuckled, earning an annoyed yet affectionate glare from her cousin as he climbed up onto the fence next to her.

That’s how it went with the cousins, they took playful shots at each other every chance they got, but in the end, they were best friends and always had each other’s backs.

They watched 3 more riders go, including Brent, who lasted the full 8 seconds but lost a few points because his free arm dropped below shoulder height for a few seconds.

Then, it was Ash’s turn. She had been fairly unlucky in the draw, drawing a bull named Lucifer as her first ride. Lucifer had a reputation as a particularly ferocious bull to ride. At 1892 pounds, the pitch black beast would be the biggest bull Ash had ridden to date. Rather than being terrified, as most riders would be, Ash was excited. Sure, their was a healthy dose of fear mixed in, but she always did love a challenge. 

She climbed over the high fence into the chute, settling down onto Lucifer’s back, feeling the strength in the massive shoulders in front of her. She took a second to straighten the black cowboy hat on her head, taking a deep breath as she pulled the leather glove on her right hand tighter before gripping the strap. She took another deep breath, drowning out the noise of the crowd and the booming voice of the commentator.

Ali

“In the chute now, we have our fifth rider, current state champion and today’s only female competitor, riding aptly named Lucifer, give it up for Ashlyn Harris ladies and gentlemen!” The commentator called, followed immediately by the crowd roaring. 

“This Ashlyn must be a crowd favorite,” Kyle called to Kealia over the roaring crowd. “Is she really that good?”

“She’s the best,” Kealia replied simply, with an excited smile. “That’s JJ’s cousin. She’s made the 8 on all of her last 12 rides.”

“That sounds impressive,” said Ali, turning to watch the next rider with heightened interest.

As the buzzer sounded, Ali say the massive bull charge out of the chute, her eyes focusing on the rider, seeing a familiar looking arm full of tattoos held high in the air.

Ashlyn

The buzzer sounded and Lucifer charged out of the chute like a demon, immediately rearing up and then switching, shooting his hind quarters high into the air. Ashlyn squeezed her thighs tight around the wide back she was seated on, gripping tight with her right hand, shifting her torso back and forth to keep her center of gravity as stable as possible. 

The seconds she was on a bull always seemed to last hours, she blocked out all the background, the crowd a dull buzz in the back of her mind. She focused solely on the massive beast hell bent on throwing her off, listening only for his hooves slamming on the ground and the noises he makes that would potentially give her some clue to his next move. He changes his tactic suddenly, switching from him bucking to a violent spin. Just then the buzzer sounded, indicating the end of the 8 second ride and Ashlyn launches herself off of Lucifer’s back, landing a few feet away and rolling further as Lucifer shot off in the opposite directing. 

Ash stood and waved to the crowd, who were cheering louder than they had the whole night. Ashlyn was on cloud 9, as she always was after the rush of a successful ride. Just when Ashlyn was about to turn to head back to the chute fence, she heard a shout from the bull wranglers, and she turned her head back to look at Lucifer.

Who had just reared, and began to charge in her direction, his horns down. 

Ashlyn immediately took off in a sprint towards the nearest fence which was luckily only a few yards away, jumping on it quickly, just reaching high enough that Lucifer slammed in just below the bar that her feet now rested on, her hat flying off her head, landing at the feet of a beautiful, slightly familiar brunette. Ashlyn looked up and looked straight into the most beautiful, whiskey colored eyes she had ever seen.

Ali

Ali cheered loudly with the crowd when Ashlyn made the 8 second mark on the ride, her cheers quickly changing to a horrified gasp when she saw the bull charge a few moments later. Thankfully, Ashlyn noticed and had began a mad sprint, straight towards where Ali was sitting. The rider scrambled up the fence, her hat going flying landing at Ali’s feet. 

Ali looked up, her heart racing at the thought of what could have happened if Ashlyn hadn’t made it to the top of the fence in time, and Ali found herself lost in the bull rider’s sparkling hazel eyes. 

She gazed into those eyes for what felt like hours despite it probably only being few seconds, before 2 cowboys managed to get the massive black bull away from the fence, and another was patting Ashlyn’s leg, indicating it was safe for her to get down. Ashlyn tore her eyes away from the brunette and climbed down off the fence. Ali watched her walk away, only taking a few steps before Ali realized that the blonde’s hat was still at her feet. Grabbing it, she rushed to the fence and called out.

“Hey! Your hat!” 

Ashlyn turned and looked at Ali again. Her eyes darted between the hat and Ali’s face; her own face morphed into a flirtatious smirk.

“Keep it!” the bull rider called back to the brunette with a wink, before turning again and walking away.

With butterflies in her stomach, Ali sat down. Tobin reached forward, grabbing the hat, and placing it on Ali’s head with a laugh.

Ali had her answer. The blonde rider from earlier that had been on her mind all day was, in fact, at the rodeo. Now she just hoped that she'd at he dance Kealia had mentioned would take place that evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so our main characters have sort of met, and sparks are flying already. I'll try get the next chapter out as soon as I can.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet...properly...

Ashlyn

Ash won the event, to nobody’s surprise, but if anybody asked her what she was thinking when she accepted the patch for her vest and the envelope containing the $500 in prize money, the answer wouldn’t be what they expected. Her mind wasn’t on the bulls, her rides or how she planned to save most of the money towards a new sound system for her truck. Her mind was on the whiskey colored eyes of the gorgeous brunette.

“Come on Ash!” JJ said, clapping his cousin on her shoulder as she made her way out of the ring, directly her towards the storeroom where their things were stored. “Kea just texted, her and the others are going to meet us at the barn.”

The barn was the nickname locals had bestowed upon the local hangout. The large building was located on the edge of town, and was, in fact, a converted barn. The Barn was the towns most popular hangout, with the whole bottom story converted into a dance floor, with a large stage that almost always had some or other musician playing. The loft area was pub, a proper country saloon style bar if you want to be specific. The Barn always hosted a dance after every rodeo, and usually the whole town gathered to have fun together.

The teenagers were no exception.

JJ and Ashlyn quickly changed out of their vests and chaps, leaving them in their bags. They’d come back later that evening to collect their stuff when they fetch their horses as they were far happier in the field than they would be tied to the posts outside the barn.

They were lucky enough to be able to catch a ride as they were walking out of the rodeo grounds, as some of JJ’s football teammates drove by them in a large Ford pickup. There were already 3 people in the cab and another 4 in the bed, but there was always room for more, as the guy in front, Brody, laughed.

Ash and JJ squeezed in at the back with the others and they all rode over to the dance, laughing and playfully shoving each other as they made their way into the wooden building, where music could already be heard. Ashlyn was not spared from the rough housing, she’d made it clear from a young age that she could handle herself and was usually able to hold her own even with the roughest of them, dishing out as good as she got. 

When they got onto the building, JJ and Ash split off from the others to start their search for their friends. JJ, having the height advantage, managed to spot them at the base of the stairs, huddled around a barrel that held a selection of drinks. 

“There they are,” he said to his cousin, pointing in their direction while simultaneously grabbing Ashlyn’s shoulder to drag her in the same direction, before adding a curious question. “Who’s that with them?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know JJ, I can’t even see them-“

Ashlyn’s sarcastic answer died on her lips as she froze, having caught sight of the beautiful girl standing with her friends. Wearing Ashlyn’s black hat.

JJ

JJ, having not noticed his cousin’s lack of motion, continued walking towards the group as if nothing had happened. 

“Hey babe,” he smiled, greeting his girlfriend with a kiss.

“Hey,” Kealia responded with her bright, sparkling grin. “Where’s Ash?”

JJ, having only just noticed his cousin was no longer with him, looked around in confusion. 

“I haven’t got a clue,” he said, confused. ”She was just behind me.”

“Maybe she went to grab a drink,” Tobin offered with a sly smirk, having seen Ash freeze, turn around and go back outside.

“Maybe,” JJ replied with a shrug. He wasn’t concerned, Ash didn’t need to be looked after.

“I’m gonna head outside quick,” Ali told the group, to Tobin's amusement “I have to phone my mom quick to let her know she doesn’t have to wait up for us.”

Ashlyn

Ash lent against the fence outside, trying to work up the courage to go back inside and join the rest of the group. For some reason, the girl had her flustered, and the usually confident bull rider wasn’t sure what to do. Then movement to her right caught her attention and she turned to see who had joined her outside, only to see the brunette leaning against the fence less than 2 yards from where Ash stood. 

The girl was talking on her phone and appeared to have not noticed Ash yet, and Ash took a moment to study her properly now that an almost 2000 pound bull wasn’t trying to kill her, and Ashlyn was simply blown away by the beauty of the girl in front of her. Her legs were defined, her body muscular but not bulky, her skin tanned but still the light tan of someone that doesn’t spend her summers in the fields, but rather on the beach. And the fact that she was wearing Ashlyn’s own hat just made her heart beat that much faster. Luckily, Ash gathered her thoughts enough to speak as the girl hung up the phone, looking out onto the fields as she did it.

“You know I had a hat just like that.”

Ali

Ali hung up on her mother, having told her that her and Kyle would be driving home with Kea later, but she wasn’t sure what time so Deb shouldn’t wait up for them. Just as she was looking out onto the fields surrounding the barn, marveling at the stillness of the night air, she heard someone speak.

“You know I had a hat just like that.”

Ali turned, startled, having been to preoccupied with her cell phone to notice that she wasn’t alone. There she saw the blonde bull rider, Ashlyn Harris, looking at her with a small smile on her face.

“Oh of course,” Ali responded, flustered, taking the hat off her head handing it towards the blonde as she walked over. “Here.”

“No, you keep it,” Ashlyn responded with a small laugh. “It looks better on you anyways.”

With a blush, Ali put the hat back on her head , returning her smile.

"Thanks," she said shyly.

“But here,” she continued, leaning over towards Ali, adjusting the hat so it wasn’t tilted so far back on Ali’s head. “That’s better.”

“Thanks,” Ali said with a shy smile. She couldn’t understand what was happening here. She was never shy, and certainly never because of a girl. 

Ali had never found a girl attractive before, at least not beyond simply acknowledging that another girl was pretty. Her feelings about Ashlyn had her feeling very confused. She’d been thinking about the blonde that whole day, having only caught a brief glimpse, and thought the rider was a guy based on how muscular she had appeared. Ali felt slightly bad about that now, because now that she could actually see her, she saw that Ashlyn, quite well built for a girl, was actually rather beautiful. 

Lost in thought and slight panic at the revelation, Ali didn’t here her speak, noticing suddenly that the blonde was looking at her expectantly.

“I’m sorry,” Ali hastily apologized. “What was that?”

“I said I haven’t seen you around before, you must be new in town,” Ashlyn repeated with a friendly smile. “I’m Ashlyn.”

“Ali,” she replied. “I just moved here this afternoon.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you Ali,” Ashlyn held out her hand, shaking Ali’s lightly. 

Ali gazed into those hazel eyes as she held onto the blonde’s hand for slightly longer than she normally would for a simple hand shake. But she marvelled in the hand that easily enveloped hers. The skin was rough, the hand strong and solid, indicating a life of hard work. 

Just then, the door of the barn opened and the music that spilled out broke the moment. Causing Ali to hastily let go of the hand she still held.

“Would you like to go back in?” Ashlyn asked, gesturing to the still open door.

“Sure,” Ali confirmed with a smile, taking the hand that was once again held out for her, allowing herself to be lead back into the building, where a lively tune was being played. 

The quickly found their friends on the dance floor, standing in a circle. They joined and began having a good time with their friends, who didn’t seem to have noticed their absence. Ali ended up next to her brother, with Ashlyn on her other side, and she kept close to the blonde despite her conflicted feelings. Something about the other girl just drew Ali to her. Kyle gave her a knowing look, but Ali missed it, focused on Ashlyn, who still hadn’t let go of her hand, who twirled her as the song picked up further. 

They danced close for a few more songs before the tempo of the music changed, the live band having ended their set and a DJ taking over. The older adults and young children had left, the dance floor now only holding older teenagers and young adults. The main lights dimmed, and a few neon lights lit up instead, and just like that, the barn transformed into a club. The bass rose and Ali found herself gravitating even closer to the strong blonde next to her. Ashlyn moved her hand from Ali’s to her hip, the other still hanging free, Ali’s arms raising into the air as they moved their bodies to the music. They kept moving steadily closer until, 2 songs later, they were pressed against each other, both Ashlyn’s hands on Ali’s hips, Ali’s hands clutching Ashlyn’s biceps, getting lost in the feeling of the strong body pressed against hers, the other people in the group fading away. 

Ali looked into Ashlyn’s eyes, noticing they had darkened slightly. Ali gulped lightly, a shiver running down her spine as her body suddenly felt even warmer. Ali saw Ashlyn’s eyes dart down to her lips briefly before returning to her eyes. Unconsciously, Ali’s eyes did the same, and without meaning to, she lent forward slightly, Ashlyn copying her actions until their lips were only an inch apart. 

Then something in Ali’s mind clicked and she pulled back and was out of Ashlyn’s arms in a second, moving away as if nothing had happened, leaving a confused blonde behind. Ali tried to shake it off, moving away from the blonde and closer to the other side of the group, but she couldn’t get those lips out of her mind. She’d really wanted to kiss the blonde, and that scared her to death. 

Kyle had seen everything. Hell, the whole group had seen everything. Kyle, however, knew his sister, and he knew she was freaking out. So, he nudged Kealia, giving her a pleading look that she immediately picked upon.

“Hey guys, we’re gonna head out,” Kealia announced. “I’ll see y'all.”

The group called their goodbyes, JJ giving her one last kiss, and the trio walked out and towards Kealia’s truck, Ali’s mind still on those darkened eyes and those lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you guys think of Ali's moment of gay panic.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to Inked11 for motivating me get my ass in gear and write the next chapter! Would definitely recommend checking out their stories everyone. Best Krashlyn works I've ever read.

Ash

The rest of the weekend went by faster than Ash would have liked, but weekends had a nasty habit of doing that when school waited to greet them on Monday. She had a lot to do that weekend, having to help her uncle make sure that everything on the ranch was in good enough shape that it could do without her and JJ being there the whole day to help out. There wasn’t as much extra work, but everything they did had to be done even more perfectly than they’d normally do it. They wouldn’t be there for most of the day, and Uncle Jed didn’t have the money to hire extra workers to pick up the slack. 

On top of that, Ashlyn’s aunt had sent JJ and her off to the nearby city of Kingsville to grab supplies for the house and for them for school. The two were often assigned to this task, as her aunt had decided that the two teens got restless if they didn’t get to leave the small town every now and again. They didn’t complain, it WAS nice to get out.

However, all this hustle made it painfully obvious to Ashlyn that she simply could not get the new girl, Ali, off her mind. There were so many things she could be thinking about, but she constantly found her mind wondering to the brunette and their moment in the Barn on Friday night. She thought constantly about what she had done to scare the other girl off, because she had seemed as into it as Ash herself was, but seemingly out of nowhere she’d pulled away, confusing and disappointing the blonde. 

“Stop thinking so much Ash it’s weird,” JJ grumbled from his position in the driver’s seat of his truck, on their way back from Kingsville that Sunday evening.

“Can’t help it JJ,” Ash sighed, exasperated. “I don’t get it, what did I do.”

Ash didn’t keep anything from her cousin, so she’d told him all about her attraction to the new girl (and their almost-kiss). He thought that she was probably just reading to much into the girl’s reaction. According to him, it was highly likely that she’d just freaked a bit because she hardly knew Ash. 

Ash liked this theory because it meant she still had a chance. However, there was still a shadow of doubt in her mind. What if it had been her? What if Ali genuinely just didn’t like her as much as Ash had thought.

“You didn’t do anything Ash calm down,” JJ reassured his cousin for what felt like the hundredth time. “Just try get to know her a bit better at school or something.”

“Yeah I guess,” Ash mumbled, perking up slightly despite her worries. She was looking forward to seeing Ali at school the next day.

Ali

Ali had a very busy weekend, but had anyone asked her what she’d done, she probably wouldn’t have been able to tell them. She was just going through the motions of getting herself ready for the new school year at the new school. She finished unpacking and organizing her new room and making sure she had everything for school. Luckily, she was a rather organised person, because she’d already bought all her school supplies while still in DC. 

So, all round, a very busy weekend, but Ali’s mind wasn’t on any of that. No. Ali’s mind was on Ashlyn Harris and her conflicted feelings. Ali had no problem with the thought that she may be bi, it had just came as a bit of a shock, which is why she had jumped away from Ashlyn as if she’d been electrocuted. And now, she simply couldn’t get her mind off of that single dimple and the surfer-like wavy, shoulder length blonde hair. Even with guys, she’d lent more towards blondes, and she’d ALWAYS had a weakness for tattoos, and Ashlyn’s were simply gorgeous. 

Ali was also worried that her seemingly negative reaction had scared off the girl and ruined her chance with the young bull rider, before she had even realized, she wanted a chance.

Ali was startled from her thoughts by a knock on her bedroom door, which opened to reveal Kealia, her now familiar smile gracing her face as always.

“Hey Ali, I hope you don’t mind me just showing up,” the blonde greeted with a small laugh. “Your mom sent me right up.”

“Hey Kea,” Ali responded, returning the smile. “Don’t worry, it’s good to see you again.”

“I just wanted to stop over and ask how you enjoyed the rodeo? And are you ready for school tomorrow?”

“Yes, I actually had everything ready before we moved. Kyle and I hit the back to school sales while we were still in DC.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Kealia laughed. “I’ve also been ready to go back for a week now. I wish JJ could be that organised, he and Ash went to Kingsville today to get their thing. Talk about last minute.”

Ali’s smile dropped slightly when Kea said that. She had managed to go a few minutes without thinking about the blonde, and now the thought and confusion came rushing back.

This didn’t go unnoticed by Kealia.

“So, you and Ash were looking close on Friday,” she said hesitantly, she wanted to leave it open ended so Ali could talk about it if she needed to or dismiss it if she didn’t.  
Ali felt herself blush and looked away. Kealia took this as meaning Ali did not, in fact, wish to speak about it.   
Just as she was about to switch the topic to soccer, a common interest they apparently had, if the team photo on Ali’s desk gave any hints, Ali spoke.

“I’m honestly not sure what happened there,” Ali said honestly, after taking a deep breath. “I’ve never been attracted to a girl before, much less so quickly…”

Kea could tell that Ali was confused and still in a mild panic, and hearing that this was Ali’s first time being attracted to a girl, she was quick to attempt to reassure her. 

“Hey Ali,” she said in a soothing tone. “Don’t worry about it. Attraction can really take people by surprise, I get that, but it’s nothing to panic about.”

“I know that Kea,” Ali replied with a sigh. “It’s just new and I’m conflicted. I haven’t stopped thinking of her, and I’ve never been like this with other people I’ve found attractive. Yes, I think about them, but Ashlyn’s has been on my mind since the second I lay eyes on her, and that scares me.”

Ali wasn’t sure why she was being so open with this girl she hardly knew, but Kealia had this way about her that just made Ali trust her enough to open up to her.

“It’s okay to be scared Ali,” she reassured. “It’s completely normal. I know this feels like it’s coming too fast for you, but there’s no timeline on feelings.”

“But what if I messed it up already,” Ali said, finally revealing her actual main worry. While yes, she was confused and nervous about the fact that her feelings for Ashlyn had flew in, her main worry was that her little freak out had made the blonde think she wasn’t interested. “You saw how I acted. And I’m sure she was about to kiss me. I’m sure she thinks I’m not interested.”

“ Don’t you worry about that Ali,” Kea reassured the other girl with a hug. “I’m sure she’ll understand. In fact, if I know Ash, you’ve probably been on her mind just as much as she’s been on yours.”

*the next morning  
Ash

Ash and JJ pulled into the parking lot of the school. This time they were both in Ashlyn’s truck, a black and red 1978 Chevy Silverado. Ash jumped out of the driver’s seat, fixing the cuffed sleeve of her short sleeve black and blue plaid shirt, and straightening the Texas Rangers baseball cap that covered her short blonde hair. The 2 were dressed like typical ranch kids, as was their style, with both wearing plaid shirts paired with jeans and boots. It was always fairly easy to see who was a ranch kid and who was a town kid. Town kids were hardly ever seen wearing boots unless it was a fashion statement. They stuck to their designer sneakers and sandals that would get ruined after one day on a ranch. 

Grabbing their backpacks from the bed of the truck, they made their way towards school, soon joined by Kelley, Tobin, Alex and JJ’s friend and teammate Darren.

Laughing with each other as they made their way through the already crowded halls, Ash suddenly heard JJ call out.

“Kea!” 

Ashlyn promptly froze, Kelley slamming into her back because of the sudden stop.

Ash ignored her confused grumbling as she straightened her shirt, because there, standing next to her cousin’s girlfriend was the tall, dark haired Kyle, and the girl Ashlyn had been thinking about non-stop for two days.

Ali Krieger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah Kea, helping poor confused Ali. One step closer everyone!


	8. Authors Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not a chapter, just want to update you guys

Hey guys, I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while but I've been incredibly stressed because im in the middle of exams, and as much as I'd rather be writing, my academics have to come first unfortunately😅. Uni is expensive so I can't afford to slack off.  
I finish in 3 weeks, so hopefully will get the next chapter up asap after that.   
Please dont give up on me ive got a vision for this story and i fully intend to see it through!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed that. A little cheesy and probably very unrealistic but hey it's fanficiton. Let me know what you think.
> 
> Ali's house  
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/calmproject/3603787071


End file.
